suave harv
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 22:52
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Good you mention Maes Howe. I was there this year and loved it, despite the fact that because it was a guided tour I couldn't sit around, light a tea light, smoke a spliff and write a poem and compose a song and write a pagan screen-play.
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treehugger-uk
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 22:54
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now smokin spliffs would be illegal and well.....er
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Hob
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 22:57
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I was hacked off with the metal gate there, otherwise I woulda been in in the middle of the night. (I wouldn't have gotten scared and ran out screaming, honest.)
Some folk manage to get it nearly to themselves, by judicious timing on the last tour of the day. I know what you mean though, it would be nice to have the option of a guide, but not mandatory.
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suave harv
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 22:58
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>I take the point about the cam, but what's wrong with a wee shriney thing for thems as wants to leave bits of plants, light >candles or whatever flicks their switch?
It is a noble idea, but the fact that the shrine isn't a few thousand years old would render it useless I think. And I honestly think people that go there do respect the monument, and would play ball if they were asked to put the tealights on the floor rather than on the stones.
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Littlestone
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 22:59
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Cant really believe I'm saying this (as a conservator) but maybe West Kennet Long Barrow has now moved from being a site of archaeological importance to a place of... well... 'pilgramage'. There's nothing new about that; places like Westminster Abbey, the Hall of Dreams at Nara, have all shifted in the way they are now used. I was at WKLB during Samhain and was stuck by how beautiful and peaceful the place looked with dozens of T candles burning there - it may not have been good for the barrow but it was certainly good for the soul.
I guess the bottom line is this... the majority of people who light candles at WKLB probably do so out of respect and reverence for the place. You might not agree or like what they do but these people don't have too many places where they can do it. More importantly, if they are told that by lighting candles they may be harming the place the majority of those people would stop doing it.
The onus, therefore, on the preservation (and use) of West Kennnet Long Barrow is not on the people who go there but on its custodians - English Heritage, yet again, needs to get its head out of its arse and address the issue straight on.
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Hob
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 22:59
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That's why the teelites are there? To constantly re-light badly rolled spliffs? Then it's nowt to do with spirituality. Bah!
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suave harv
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 23:01
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Yea. . but how about the Fairy Knowe? even at mid-day it's midnight inside, and it's free!
But it's f*cking freaky inside!!!
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Hob
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Re: WKLB to Close?
Nov 09, 2004, 23:08
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It's that old respect thing again then. If people are going there with a respectful attitude, they could probably hold a full-on party, but leave no litter or damage.
But then you get (probably well intentioned) folk who just don't think (or who just don't care) about the effects their actions may have. If it's 'cause they don't think, then info may do the trick, if they don't care, then only barring access would work. Shades of the recent talk about climbers on the Lamgdale Boulders.
I just hope it isn't an excuse to put a gate on and charge for access in the future. Cynic that I am.
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Hob
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Re: Typo...
Nov 09, 2004, 23:09
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'Langdale boulders'
Duh!
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treehugger-uk
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Re: Typo...
Nov 09, 2004, 23:13
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Too busy perfecting ur bloomin joints Mr Hob :)
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